Is intelligence limited to thoughts it is able to associate words with?
First thing we were taught in AI: 
Humans didn't create airplanes by studying and mimicing birds, they studied aerodynamics and physics.
Although difficult to articulate I've had very similar thought patterns to yours when I was thinking about AI and further I watched very closely the development of my child from being a newborn to where he is now, a year and a bit old.  The human brain is far more complex than what we'll understand, it would take a multi-discipline team effort to even scratch the surface.  So to create a human brain-like thought process and try to put it into a formal language box would be impossible.
I think the breakthrough in AI isn't going to be someone putting together multiple complex algorithms or even a fancy NN running on a supercomputer.  It's going to be something we haven't figured out yet.
Still, fun to think about...  I'd say it's more of a philosophical question than an AI one though...
Just my humble opinion.